


The Legend of the Moon and Tide

by sithmarauder



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Betrayal, Cosmic/Nature Forces, Hurt/Comfort, Kylo Ren is a Star, M/M, Poe Dameron is the Moon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 09:29:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6189154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sithmarauder/pseuds/sithmarauder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Ben and Poe are literal forces of nature.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Legend of the Moon and Tide

**Author's Note:**

> This one-shot is completely and irrevocably [life-hungry's](http://life-hungry.tumblr.com/) fault, for sinning with me until the sun stopped shining (and for coming up with the summary for this piece when my brain cried out for help). The babs as cosmic/nature-themed forces I just. I cry always.

Everyone has heard the legend of the Moon and the tide, and of the once-Star that fell so far it could no longer thrive alongside the Moon in the dark night sky.

Once the brightest light in the sky, the Star was closest to the brilliant Moon, whose protectiveness towards this most luminous of stars was well known among the other beings in the sky. Hovering high above the black and unreflective ocean below, the Star and the Moon were almost never without each other, and everyone knew that the Moon would have razed the world to keep the Star shining bright in the sky. The Star was antsy, however, for he did not like being left alone when the Moon was absent, but he remained behind, providing light for the people on the shores of the dark waters, who watched and praised him with awe in their voices.

But the Star was tricked, deceived by a powerful primordial creature from the earth below that wanted the power of the heavens for himself, for the Moon and the people weren’t the only beings that watched the Star. Shielded deep in the cracks of the Jagged Earth this creature resided, a creature who had seen the Star and wished to twist him and use him to suit the creature’s own needs. More than anything this creature dreamed of taking the Star and making him his own, corrupting the Star’s light to turn him into a thing of darkness so that nothing would stand between the creature and the beings who lived in the heavens—the Sun, the Moon, and the other stars who made the skies their home.

At first, when the creature reached out to him, the Star was frightened, for the creature was hideous, with gnarled bones and twisted limbs, but when the creature spoke his voice was soothing, words like benediction, and his hands moved softly with a gentleness that did not become him. On the nights when the Moon was absent from the sky, this creature would lean up and whisper into the Star's ear, for he knew the Star was lonely and longed for the Moon when everything seemed so dark and aimless, and he promised the Star the power to remain alongside the moon forever.

The Star, enthralled, listened to this creature, and believed him when he said he had the potential to ensure his desires.

"But you are too bright for me to approach," the creature whispered. "For me to help you, you must dim your light the slightest amount every day, starting when the Moon returns, so that when the Moon leaves once again and the sky is darkest I may at last give you what you want most."

And so, every night, the Star's shine dimmed. The other stars didn't notice, and the Sun could not see beyond the bright day she created, and for awhile the Moon did not see either, but as the dark days approached the Moon noticed that there was less light in the sky, and so one day the Moon reached out to the Star with gentle fingers and asked, "What troubles you so?"

But the Star only shook his head and reached back with light-dusted hands and promised the Moon that it was nothing.

The night before the Moon was to vanish the Star watched the earth eagerly, so much so that he did not notice the concerned glances of the Moon as he prepared to step away, promising that he would return, as he always did, as he always had. (What the Star didn't know what that the Moon always returned for _him_ , each and every time.)

When the Moon was gone and the earth was plunged into darkness, the Star awaited the return of the creature with bated breath, and when he saw something stirring by the shore of the still, dark waters below he lifted his head and reached out his hand, prepared to accept what the creature had promised, but the hand that grabbed him was not the gently coaxing one from before. Instead it was harsh and painful, rough and demanding, twisted into a deformed shape, and the Star cried out in despair as he realised he'd been tricked.

The other stars stirred at his plight, crying out that the Star must shine, that he must fight, but the Star could not, for the hand was pulling him down, leaching dark tendrils into his skin, chasing away the blinking lights and the stardust and the warmth that burned inside of him. He screamed as he was dragged away, but just as the creature was about to pull him into the earth the Sun, hearing the Star's cry and the cries of the people on the shore, shone its light on the earth, and the creature let go with an ungodly shriek as the Star plummeted down down _down_ , for there was not enough light within him to stay in the sky, the dark tendrils reaching too deep.

But the West Wind saw the Star fall and, with all the strength she possessed, pushed the Star away from the shore, and instead of hitting the earth and shattering the Star plunged into the dark, flat waters of the ocean, where there was just enough light left in him to break the ever-pervasive darkness. The creatures of the water flocked to him, this strange luminous being, their eyes opening for the first time to behold a world they had been unable to see, for the Moon's light did not reach this cold, dark place and the waters had remained still, ever so still, not reflecting the beauty of the heavens above.

The Star raged and struggled, trying to break the flat surface of the waters, but he could not, and with the strength of his rage the waves came to life, stretching up and up and _up_ as if to reach the sky itself. In his anger the Star's light spread outward, striking long lines through the previously dark sea, revealing the underwater world, but he did not see it. He screamed as the waves failed to reach the sky, curling inwards and cursing the creature on the land, and in his rage the Star (this fallen body) directed his waves at the earth itself, striking it over and over with the force of his rage.

The peaceful beings of the earth cried out in fear as their beloved Star commanded the waves against them, seeking to root out the creature who had dared fell a being such as he, but as he did so he failed to notice the way the light continued to leech out of him in all directions, illuminating the waves, and the way some of the sea crept into his very being, filling the parts of him emptied and dirtied by the creature's touch.

Though she tried, the Sun could do nothing to stop the Star and help the people on the shore, for she was too far away and she had seen too late. In desperation she fled the skies, seeking out the Moon as the Star (as the raging Sea) howled its betrayal, and when the Moon heard about what had happened he hastened back, leaving fragments of himself behind as he forced himself desperately into the darkening sky, his anger burning colder than the vacuum of space itself.

At first the Star, the Sea, did not see the Moon, for the lingering light of the Sun still remained, but gradually he became aware of something curious, of the way new light was streaming down into the waves of the dark world he had harnessed to enact his revenge, and the Star, the Sea, turned his eyes to the heavens.

He saw the Moon, and he cried out, trying to force the waves up again, and he did this for three days as the Moon tried to reach back, but the Moon knew that the Star could not return to the sky. Then, the Moon looked down, truly looked down, and gasped.

"What have you done?" he whispered, and the Star looked to the destruction on the shores, to the people he had silenced in his quest to find the creature who had destroyed him, and for the first time the waves subsided as the Star's anguish turned inward. The Moon watched, aching to reach out, to touch as he had once been able, and part of him looked at the wrecked shore and he wanted to scream, the vengeance in his heart urging him to tell the Star to continue, to seek the creature out and _destroy him_ , and his heart went out to the being who had once been the brightest star in the sky, the moonlight stretching to the waters below so that he may comfort the Star in his sorrow, but as the waves stilled the Moon noticed something else.

"What have you _done_?" the Moon said, and the new awe in his voice at last made the Star look down at himself, at the kingdom he had wielded, and he realised that his hands were shining again, sparking with the love and the light of the Moon and of the other stars, but the Star wept for he realised that there was no longer stardust in his veins but water.

"Do not cry!" the other stars whispered, blinking in and out as they cooed. "Look! Look what you have achieved!"

And the Star-no-longer turned his head and he gasped, for instead of the flat darkness that had once marked the sea, there were now millions of lights twinkling on the newly reflective surface and there, _there_ , standing in the centre where his reflection hit the waves, was the Moon.

The Star forced the waves up, bringing himself to the surface, and he fell into the arms of the Moon with a sob, feeling the Moon's arms encircle him protectively.

"Look at me," the Moon said fiercely, and the Star-no-longer did, even as every fibre of his being screamed at him to move. "You cannot return to the stars," the Moon said, "for you are a star no longer." The waves under the Star's command thrashed, but when the Moon threatened to step back they calmed. "But you have become the Sea," the Moon said, "and in doing so you have brought light to places even the Sun, in all her wisdom, could not reach."

The Star-no-longer felt hands at his face, both gentle and fierce, and the waves stirred again, surging up and around them before falling.

"How can I be happy when I am not by your side?" the Star (the Sea) demanded, anger filling his voice, and the Moon cast his eyes to the shore where the people gathered, marvelling at the flickering lights on the once-soulless waves.

"You can bring the light to them," the Moon said, "they who have always looked to the horizon and seen only night."

The Sea clung to the moon, the waves simmering around them, but then he realised something. The waters that he now commanded, the waters that stirred at his touch, could go places the moon could not; could follow where a star could only remain.

"I will do this," the Sea declared fiercely, "but so, too, will I remain with you." The oceans trembled with the strength of his words, ripples spreading out from where their forms stood entwined on the water’s surface, carrying the Sea’s promise to all corners of the earth. "Wherever you are in the night sky, you will look down and see me there, always.  Reaching."

The Moon smiled, and without word he leaned down to press his mouth to that of the Sea. The stars above them twinkled and the Sea enveloped them both, feeling the fierce protection and benediction of the Moon wash over him, igniting the new lights that played over the Sea’s skin.

Forever after, when the Moon moved across the earth, the Sea would follow him, stretching his hand up where the Moon could reach and grab hold, and the Moon, from his point in the sky, would watch the earth when the Sun bowed out, as he always had, but he knew vengeance still burned bright not just in the Sea's heart but his own, a vengeance that he could see reflected to him every night, so he would keep an eye out for the creature, the creature who had _dared_ to steal the brightest star from him, and he would direct the Sea to the creature where he could be found, the tides stirring to life at the command of the Sea as he lashed at the shoreline, the Moon's guiding hand showing him the way. To this day they still chase the creature, who lurks in the darkest parts of the earth where no light can reach, protected by the Jagged Earth and by no means beaten, but weakened by the Sea's power and the sway of the Moon. But whenever it surfaces to cause more harm, to snatch another star, the Sea is there to greet him, lashing back as the Moon hisses from the skies, reaching out a hand of water and salt and moondust and light and darkness so that the Sea can follow.

For the Sea, even now, still loves the Moon, and the Moon would see the world drown to preserve him.

**Author's Note:**

> For reference (though not all of these characters appear):  
> The Moon - Poe Dameron  
> The Star/Sea - Kylo Ren/Ben Organa  
> The Sun - Leia Organa  
> The Sky - Han Solo  
> The West Wind - Rey  
> The Earth's Flora - Finn  
> The Jagged Earth - Hux  
> The Creature/Darkness - Snoke
> 
> And thus concludes my latest descent into hell. Please let me know what you think ♥
> 
> I have a [tumblr](http://deadhabsburgs.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
